Rosa setigera. Climbing Prairie Rose.Zones: 4-9; sun, part sunSoil: moistNative to: Thickets, hedgerows, swamp margins; southwestern Ontario to Iowa and Kansas south to texas and FloridaSize: Height 4-8 feet, width 5-10 feetColor: light to dark pink; blooms early to midsummerRosa setigera is the closest we get to a native climbing rose. It sends out long, weak canes set with stout, back-curved thorns and large leaves with 3 oval leaflets (5 on lower leaves) grooved deeply along the veins. There are some thorns on the petioles as well. It holds its fairly large flowers in clusters of 3 to 7 from the tips of both primary and axillary canes. Since the flowers in each cluster open up over the course of a week, starting out dark pink and fading light, a shrub in full bloom has a striking multicolor appearance.The hips are small and ruddy green. Still, R. setigera's habit and prolific flowering make it about the best wild substitute for the hybrid climbers.

R. setigera ('Prairie Rose') North America, 1810... deep pink paling with age... produced over a long season... This rose is useful for its long flowering display and extreme hardiness... it has given rise to some excellent progeny over the years, such as 'Baltimore Belle' and 'Long John Silver'...

Rosa setigera... the North American native rose ... will only just begin to bloom around the second week in July... Originally found throughout the Eastern Seaboard and the Prairie States, this scentless pink beauty creates mounds of color and is best left alone on an embankment or in an open field where it can sprawl.

Page 4: [One of the 65 climbing roses Stephen Scanniello describes in detail in his book and that grows in the Cranford Rose Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. There are several pages devoted to this rose, including its history, cultivation, and a photograph. Here are some highlights, but please refer to the book for more details.] Played a role in the development of climbing roses. It was used by a number of breeders, including Dr. Walter Van Fleet.Page 22: [Photo]

[One of the 65 climbing roses Stephen Scanniello describes in detail in his book and that grows in the Cranford Rose Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. There are several pages devoted to this rose, including its history, cultivation, and a photograph. Here are some highlights, but please refer to the book for more details.] A wild rose native to North America… named by the French botanist André Michaux (1746-1802)… In 1811 a British botanist, Robert Brown, found a form of this rose that he mistook for a new species; he called it Rosa rubifolia because of its blackberry-like leaves. As a result, there is much confusion in the old lierature, where R. setigera is often listed as R. rubifolia. American hybridizers used it in their breeding programs… William Prince, and his son William Robert Prince, worked with it in the 1820s; unfortunately, the results of their efforts no longer exist… In general, hybridizers had difficulty perfecting R. setigera and breeding its good characteristics into roses of other classes.

'American Pillar' is one of the most successful setigera hybrids. (Van Fleet, 1902). Later, M.H. Horvath used R. setigera in the creation of his "Treasure Island" climbers. Two of the most successful were 'Doubloons' (1934) and 'Long John Silver' (1934).

Flowers: bright pink, scentless, 2 inches in diameter, five wavy petals. Hips: red. In autumn, the leaves turn fiery red, and during the coldest months, the canes… [become] a deep plum red that contrasts with the pronounced white of their menacing prickles…

The large, broad, rough leaves of R. setigera resemble those of blackberry bushes, and the canes, which can grow at least ten feet long in one season, are also like those of the blackberry - arching, extremely prickly and quick to root wherever they touch the ground. Because it roots so easily, and also because birds, which love the hips, distribute the seeds, R. setigera spreads rapidly and can be invasive.